


Back Again

by nightskies_nighteyes



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fellswap, Dragons, Fellswap - Freeform, Fellswap Gold Version, I'll tag more as I go, Magic, Muffet plays match maker, Other, Post Pacifist Route, Reader Has A Name, Reader Is Not Chara, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader Isn't Human, Reader is gender neutral, Reader-Insert, awkward pining, grillby - Freeform, random baked goods that i'm horrible at naming, slow burn i guess, slowest of slow burns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-04-03 21:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14005566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightskies_nighteyes/pseuds/nightskies_nighteyes
Summary: In which the Fellswap universe reaches the surface and realizes there might be some monsters who weren't trapped under the mountain with them.Grillby realizes that he has been on his own for far too long.





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara explains some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, Bun, plays Gerson in this universe (since it's swap). The old monster who has Queen Toriel moderate trust, and had fought in the old war. This is the only time they'll be mentioned so don't worry if you don't remember.
> 
> EDIT 4/20 (lol): Got a beta reader (grassno.tumblr.com) to look through it, so there were just some grammatical changes made.

Chara gathered the Monsters  up, ready to explain on how they think in how the return of Monsterkind should be handled so that the clash between the returning Monsters and Humans will lessen.  Well, as small of a conflict there can be between a civilization that has been bitter for  _ several  _ generations and a species that is known to discriminate and overcomplicate.

“When we return, we must be sure to enforce upon  _ all _ Monsters that there will not be a war against humans if it can be avoided. I know a lot of Monsters have a lot of LV and have been told that when we get to the surface that there will be a war between humans and monsters, but unless we want major losses on both sides and a large amount of resentment after the war ends, fighting between humans and monsters should be stopped as soon as it arises. “ Chara states, drumming their fingers on the smooth wooden table top that was neatly placed in Queen Toriel’s house. As a passing thought, they wondered if Toriel had built it herself.

“I, for one, agree with Chara’s statement. If we start with war, it will only get worse from there.” Asgore said, voicing his opinion first.

Bun frowned.“The humans will not receive us well.  We dress differently from them, speak many languages, have strange magical powers that they won’t be able to control. They will try to  **oppress** us as soon as we arrive in order to minimize any damage they could possibly face from us, even if we aim for  _ peace.  _ We should strike first in order to catch them by surprise and start off strong, Sire.”

Chara looked at Toriel, who seemed to age a century every minute this conversation carried on. “I do  _ not  _ want to live through a  _ second  _ human war. Nor do I want to die fighting in it. We do this as  _  peacefully  _ as possible. Even without mages, the humans outnumber us and overpower us.”  She sighed, running her hands through her fur at the top of her head tiredly.

Bun gritted her teeth. “ _ Sire, May I suggest you reconsider--” _

Toriel turned away from Bun to face Chara. “What can we do, to have the humans receive us better? We could lose the term ‘Monsters’ and ‘Monsterkind’ to try and replace it with something  more...” she paused looking for the right words “...human friendly?”

Chara smiled. They noticed that after the third or fourth run that it was easier to convince them of certain things. “That won’t be necessary. Mankind is  _ very familiar  _ with the  term, in both friendly and non friendly contexts.”

Toriel brows furrowed and she frowned slightly, puzzling over this new information. “They remember the old war?”

“No. But you don’t really think that all of Monsterkind could fit under only one Mountain?” Chara grinned, fiddling with their fingers as they knew what would happen next.

Asgore dropped his tea cup and it clattered to the floor, chipping it slightly, while Bun burst out of her chair into a standing position. “YOU MEAN TO TELL ME, THAT SOME OF THEM ACTUALLY LIVED?”

 

Chara’s grin grew. “Why do you think I wasn’t scared of you?”


	2. Problems Fitting In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grillby finds it difficult to hold a job.

Grillby’s eyes scanned the newspaper again. Two years on the surface and he _still_ couldn’t get a good job that would both pay well _and_ be stable. He’s tried everything: looking online, asking the Monster support center, putting himself down as unemployed on every form that wanted to know how many Monsters still needed jobs, asking around, and now, reading newspapers.

All the ones the paper had either paid so little he might not even bother or didn’t want Monsters. He was about to burn the paper in frustration when his phone went off.

_Muffet calling..._

Grillby answered, hoping his old friend would have some sort of news that would be able to keep him sane.

“Alright so. You’re going to hate this job,” Muffet started, not bothering to wait for him to ask about her news. “BUT, it pays well as far as jobs for Monsters and it wouldn’t be too difficult for you. So hear me out before you say no.”

“...what is it...”

“. _..Fast food worker..._ ” Muffet said, sympathy visible in her tone. “But it pays slightly over minimum wage, so...yeah?”

Grillby really wanted to say no. He wanted to say no for the sake of his pride and his dignity as a powerful Monster... but his bills were due soon. So he took the job.

* * *

So here he was, a week later. Standing at the back of an McDonald’s kitchen, flipping godforsaken burgers with the others with low enough self esteem to be working this joint. Mostly teens who didn’t know what they were doing and people like him who were desperate for money.

It wasn’t so bad.

... That’s a lie. It was horrible.

“HEY FIRE!!! WE NEED THOSE BURGERS DONE TODAY! AND NOT BURNT THIS TIME.” Grillby’s superior--no he _refused_ to see him as superior-- _boss_ called out. He worked a bit faster trying to keep his flames on low as to not burn the burgers, _again._

“HEY!! CAN YOU HEAR ME BACK THERE?!” Grillby winced at the increase in volume, before scowling. His boss knew he wouldn’t speak unless absolutely necessary and was growing tired of the yelling when they were literally 15 feet apart.

“...yes...boss...”

“WHAT WAS THAT? SPEAK UP OR DON’T SPEAK AT ALL.”

Grillby tried really hard to keep his anger under control. He really did. Because if he could keep his anger under control he could keep his flames under control. But he had worked to many extra shifts for this bullshit. Carefully, he took off his apron and set it off to the side. He turned off his flames that were now burning the burgers. And he socked his no-longer boss straight in the jaw.

“I quit.”

And he walked out of the kitchen of hell and into the night.

* * *

 

He only made it halfway to his shitty apartment before he ran into trouble. Grillby’s luck has soured ever since he met a human. And now he had met five more. Of which only two of them were holding his arms to the smelly alleyway wall, while the other three pointed water guns at him. He would’ve tried to burn his two captors to a crisp, but what was the point. They’d scream and everyone would blame him for hurting the humans and he’d be thrown in jail with an anti magic collar on.

‘ _We made it to the Surface. But it’s just as bad as down there.’_ Grillby thought, sourly. _‘I suppose it doesn’t matter what happens. I gave up a while ago.’_

Readying himself for the blast of cold water, he closed his eyes. They were saying things to him, but they sounded a world away. He was ready.

 

...

...

...

 

Grillby grumbled. “What the fuck is taking so long. Just get it over with you sadists.”

“You were really out of it, huh?” He snapped his eyes open, about to ask what that meant when he realized his previous captor were..gone? In front of him stood just one human, with no injuries or sign of a struggle which made Grillby feel anxious. They could take out five humans with no damage? Must be pretty strong.

“The name’s Cam. You alright there? You were standing there for a while.”

“I’m fine. Just on my way home.” Grillby pushed himself off the wall and began to move away from the stranger. They stayed behind him, apparently surprised by his response.

“Do you need a job?” This caused Grillby to pause. He did need a job since he had _just left_ his old one, but... the offer was sudden and quite strange.

“...Why?”

“Well I run a bakery you see...” They rambled on for a good solid ten minutes talking about their bakery and its increasing needs. Grillby turned to look at them. Despite the unnerving disappearance of his five captors, the human in front of him didn’t _seem_ harmful. Of course he had been wrong before, so who knows, humans have been known to be unnaturally deceptive.

“...I’ll take it...” Grillby said, interrupting Cam halfway through their sentence.

Cam seemed to perk up at that. “Good! Let me just...” They shuffled through their pockets, looking for something, before pulling out a small white card. “Here’s the address and my phone number! Will you be able to swing by after closing hours on Friday to sort out the necessary details? Payroll and training and all that.”

Grillby looked briefly at the card before nodding. Not like he had much to do nowadays.

“See you then!” They waved at him before disappearing down the other end of the alleyway, leaving Grillby alone with his thoughts.


	3. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grillby meets an asshole, and is weirded out by Cam's kindness.

Grillby almost expected the address to be some run down shack and have this all be some sort of shady deal. So when he arrived at a well lit store with yellow pastel walls, he was a little surprised.

Walking through the door a nice chime rang out and a “Be with you in a minute!” came out from the back room, from where Grillby believed the kitchen was.

He stood in silence as he surveyed the room. Nice wooden tables and chairs were all lined up and took up most of the floor space, while the walls were littered with paintings of sunflowers, tulips, and open fields with windmills.  

“Sorry about the wait-- OH! Hello again.” Whatever notion that Grillby had before about the human in front of him being dangerous, left when Cam entered the room wearing a pink apron that was covered in flour. “Let me just close up a bit and we can talk about hiring you.”

Cam quickly wiped down the tables and bussed any leftover dishes into the kitchen.

“Alright so.” They pulled out some papers out of a drawer and motioned for Grillby to take a seat at an empty table. “Name?”

“Grillby.”

* * *

 

After week of training and Grillby was a full time worker at Cam’s.  He could help Cam set up in the morning and could make coffee orders for the early customers and smoothies for lunch time customers and could work the cashier. It paid better than all the jobs he’d worked at in the past too, so he could finally not have to stress every time the bills came in the mail.

So of course something had to go wrong at some point.

“Um excuse me sir? I ordered a Morning’s Delight with Whole Milk, and this clearly has 2% milk. I would like the correct drink to be served to me.” The customer sneered at him, placing the drink down in front of him like it was poisoned.

Grillby hated customers like this, but had no choice but to give them what they wanted and hope that they would be pleased and would leave him alone. Nodding he made the drink again, making sure to use whole milk, before handing it back to the displeased customer and returning to make the next order.

“Sir? This still isn’t the right drink.”

“It is a morning delight with whole milk. That is what you ordered?”

The customer’s face contorted in anger. “Do you know who I am?! I am a good friend of the manager and I will not be sassed by a disgusting monster like you, because this is CLEARLY NOT THE RIGHT DRINK! I DEMAND to speak to the manager this instant!" Their raised voice, caused a few people to turn their heads and look at them.

Cam moved to stand next to Grillby, a slight frown upon their face. "Sir if you would please not spread falsities or harass my workers, that would be most appreciated. We have not met before and aren’t any kind of acquaintance. I also  watched Grillby make the second drink and I _assure you_ it is a Morning Delight with whole milk. Please do not cause a scene in my shop."

The customer clearly embarrassed stuttered out something about writing bad reviews about this place on yelp before taking the both drinks and leaving.

Cam turned to face me, before speaking. “You alright? Most people are a little flustered or anxious the first time they have to deal with a shitty customer.”

“ ’M fine.” Grillby turned to make the next order, while Cam’s eyes followed him curiously before they too had to look away in order to satisfy the upcoming customers.

* * *

Another week had passed with almost no interruption, Grillby was pleasantly surprised that 1.) He had kept a relatively well paying job this long and 2.) Cam was _nice._ And not just fake nice, but genuinely _kind._ Grillby knew things were different on the surface and that there were some human sympathizers but he was not expecting people to be genuine about it.

He felt a little lost on how to react to it.

Cam had offered Grillby to take some of the leftovers home (which he did) and didn’t get mad if he was a few minutes late from coming back from his break. All the other bosses he had were strict and complete assholes, simply for the sake of being an asshole.

And he almost preferred it because at least then he wasn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop. He never knew how to react to Cam’s kindness and often stayed silent afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter is a bit of a filler, but next chapter we will definitely get back to some "plot points"
> 
> (if you can even call them that).
> 
> my tumblr is undertaletrashmachine.tumblr.com if yall want to send in asks about the fanfic or anything!


	4. A Friend of A Friend

Grillby was enjoying his Sunday off, lying on the couch watching shitty TV, when a series of buzzing from his phone alerted him of a flurry of new messages.

 ** _Muffet_ ** 2:37 p.m.

 **M** : _Hey do you know of any places hiring right now?_

 **M** : _I quit my old job because I finally had enough money to open my buffet on the surface, but of course as soon as I try they tell me that there is a human law that won’t let me open shop._

 **M** : _So I need a new job and one hell of a lawyer._

Grillby sighed, tiredly rubbing his eyes before replying.

 **G** : I don’t know of any places hiring rn. I’ll keep an eye out tho

 **G** : Ask around and all that

 **G** : Hope you can find the lawyer you’re looking for

 **M** : Thanks

Of course as soon as a Monster showed signs of integrating in society _successfully_ there was some sort of legal bullshit blocking the way. Messaging other Monsters he was on relatively good terms if they knew of any jobs, Grillby contemplated asking Cam. They gave him their number in case of any emergencies, and Grillby had only used it once to tell them that he was running a little late.

They were nice, and Monster friendly, not to mention one of the few people who would pay decently, but at the same time, he didn’t like asking people favors. It meant he owed someone something. Owing a human, was not something he liked the idea of at all, and on top of that, Cam was his boss. Owing your boss favors is just asking for trouble.

 _But,_ Muffet did help him find jobs when he desperately needed to pay rent for his shitty apartment, and he felt the need to repay her for that at least. Making up his mind, he texts Cam.

 ** _Cam_** 2:40 p.m.

 **G** : One of my friends needs a job and I was wondering if there were any openings for a spot at your bakery.

 **G** : They have experience working in the food industry. 

It only took a few seconds before he got a reply for Cam.

 **C** : I’d be more than happy to interview them! The more the merrier :D

 **C** : Do you know when they are available?

 Screenshotting the chat, Grillby sends it to Muffet.

 ** _Muffet_** 2:41 p.m.

_Image Sent_

**G** : Wanna work at a bakery with me?

* * *

 After going through the necessary paperwork, Muffet was officially hired to work at Cam’s bakery and started Monday. Glancing at his clock for the fifth time this minute, Grillby wished he was asleep. _12:03_ a.m. ‘Technically, it was already Monday, and Muffet would be starting today’ Grillby mused, shifting to stare up at the cracked ceiling above his bed. He didn’t know why he was feeling anxious about Muffet working at the bakery. It was going to be her first day, not his. Still he couldn’t ignore the anxiety that would grip his SOUL and tell him that inviting Muffet to the bakery was going to get him fired eventually.

Rolling over Grillby closed his eyes, trying once again to get some sleep while he still could.

‘I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.’ 

* * *

 When Grillby entered the bakery the next morning, Muffet was already behind the counter, setting up for the day. Noticing his arrival, she waved to him with one of her spare hands.

Nodding in greeting, Grillby put on his apron and began the work day. 

* * *

 Everything was doing well throughout most of the day. Too well. So fate decided to fuck with Grillby, via angry PTA mom, _right_ before his lunch break started.

“Ugh, Monsters. They’re everywhere now, I can’t even go to a store and get food for the PTA meeting without seeing one of them. The line is long too so expect me to be late. Okay, bye Susan.”

Grillby overheard the conversation on the phone and sincerely hoped that Cam would get relieve him of cash register duty _soon._ But no one came. Holding back his sighs, Grillby readies himself for the bigoted customer, hoping they wouldn’t say anything until after they left the store.

“What can I get you today?” Grillby asks, in the politest tone he can manage without sounding sarcastic.

“I’d like 7 Vanilla Custard Cookie cups, and 1 Key Lime Pie.”

Nodding Grillby goes to get the custard cookie cups out of the display case, when she interrupts him. “UM. Is there a human working here, I don’t want my food being touched by Monsters.”

 Grillby was tempted to snark back, and say that he was going to use a serving utensil to get them but figured that probably wasn’t the best idea. He turns to ask Muffet if Cam was back from their lunch break when the lady shrieked, startling him and some customers nearby.

 “OH MY GOD IS THAT A SPIDER! There is NO way that is sanitary! I want to speak to the _human_ in charge here. Spider Monsters shouldn’t work in places where there is food! Gross.”

That caused Grillby to flare up a bit. He didn’t say anything, he had learned a long time ago that words wouldn’t reach people like this, but tried to maintain control over his flames. Burning a customer was sure to get him fired.

Luckily, Cam arrived at that exact moment and freed him from the PTA mom. They spoke to them in a quiet tone, and Grillby noticed a shift in customer. They seemed more compliant and paid for their items with no more shouting. Grillby raised his eyebrows at that. Usually when customers stir up a fuss they complain more, or threaten to leave bad reviews, rather than just leaving.

Cam turned to Grillby and Muffet, smiling. “Sorry about that, you won’t have to deal with them again. Anyways, it’s your lunch break now Grillby. Sorry I didn’t manage to save you earlier.”

“Did you feel it?” Muffet asked Grillby as they exited the bakery at the end of the day.

“Feel what?”

She lowered her voice to a more hushed whisper. “When they were with the bitchy customer. There was like some weird kinda aura around them.”

He shrugged. “Must’ve been too far away.”

“Huh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time I wrote C: for Cam's texts I always thought of the dumb little smiley face thing. 
> 
> If you want to contact me my tumblr is undertaletrashmachine.tumblr.com  
> Anyways, be sure to leave a comment! It makes my day :D


	5. Strange, Isn't It?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Multiple chapters in one week? Strange isn't it? :P  
> Anyways I finally got beta readers (grassno.tumblr.com and matronofthevoid.tumblr.com) so I'll be going through the older chapters and making little updates to them. Most of them are just grammar so you won't be missing any of the story if you dont want to go back and re-read.

About a week after Muffet working at the bakery, Grillby started noticing some Monsters showing up. Namely Papyrus, who was addicted to anything sweet and often frequented Muffet’s when she was underground, but he noticed a few Snowdin regulars of Muffet’s and even a few of his own regulars from Hotland, even though he had drastically changed businesses.

Luckily, most of them didn’t have any past _issues_ with Grillby or Muffet (or if they did show up they didn’t cause any trouble) but some of Grillby’s old habits tended to sneak through when there was another Monster around that he wasn’t on the friendliest of terms with. Like making his flames hotter and taller, and crackling louder.

He managed to only set off the fire alarm once with his displays of power and strength and Cam, who for some reason, thought the whole situation was rather funny and didn’t get upset at him like he expected.

They grinned, standing on a stool to reach the smoke alarm and shut it off.“At least this building is old so we didn’t have to worry about sprinklers causing you any trouble.”

“...Sorry about it…”

Cam chuckled, and shook their head. “It was bound to happen some time. Don’t worry about it.”

Cam seemed to take a lot of things with ease, and Grillby never really saw them get upset or angered about anything. Not until Muffet mentioned one morning while helping set up shop that Human laws were making it extremely hard for her to open up her buffet on the surface.  

Cam’s face scrunched up in anger, while they worked on kneading bread dough. “Why aren’t they letting you, open up your own buffet?”

Muffet sighed, setting up the display case for the day. “Some stupid, anti-monster laws. And I can’t even get a good lawyer cause those cost too much money! It’s unbelievable really.”

Cam punched the dough with vigor, startling Grillby. “It’s fucking bullshit.”

Muffet stopped what she was doing, and whipped her head around to look at Cam with disbelief. “You Swear!!??!? Holy shit, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before. Do it again.”

“What? no.” Cam turned away from her, opting out of being pestered into swearing, to instead read the incoming orders.

Muffet grinned, before turning back to her work. Grillby knew that look. She was planning something.

Grillby was pulled out of his thoughts when Cam started speaking. “We just got an order in for a wedding cake that is needed for next week, so plan on being busy then. Wedding cakes, while incredibly beautiful, are a pain to make. And they want a three tier too.” They turned to face us. “Anyone good at frosting?”

Grillby shook his head. He only tried to make cake once and it was a disaster. Tasted fine, but was not sale worthy, much less wedding worthy.

Muffet shrugged. “I’m out of practice but I’m not bad at it.”

Chatting quietly the three of them finished setting up the shop and another work day began. Muffet’s lawyer troubles were not spoken of until it was closing time, when Muffet checked her email and saw that the court date had been set.

 Muffet glared down at her phone screen. “Ugh. Looks like they’re trying to delay it for as long as possible. It won’t be for two months. It least it gives me time to find a good lawyer. The one that they gave me has a dick for a brain.”

“If you need a lawyer I can help you get one. For a lower cost too, they owe me a few favors.” Cam said, appearing from the back room and startling Muffet.

“N-no, it’s alright, I can handle it. No need to cause you any trouble.” Muffet shook her head.

“It’s no trouble. Besides it’s probably better if I help. That way you won’t have to stress as much about it.” Cam smiled and then turned to begin the process of wiping down the countertops and tables.

“If you insist.”

 When they had closed down the bakery and finished any prep that needed to be done for the next day, Grillby and Muffet exited the building heading towards the bus stop. Grillby usually preferred walking, but the skies were looking overcast and he didn’t want to deal with any chance of a storm.

 After standing in silence for a while, Muffet turned slightly to face him better. “Are they... always so... helpful and nice?” 

Grillby thought about that for a minute, before nodding.

Muffet turned back to look at the road, eyes scanning for any sign that the bus would arrive soon. “I’m not sure what they could want in return though.”

“I don’t think they want anything.” Grillby paused, trying to sort out his thoughts. “When I asked if they could hire you I was sure that they would expect something in return, but they haven’t even mentioned anything about me owing them.”

Muffet stared at the buildings across from where they were standing. Grillby realizes that was probably the most he said all month, and settled back into silence until the bus arrived.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.” Muffet said quietly after they had boarded the nearly empty bus. “Being up here. Not owing people. It’s strange.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk when the next chapter will be out cause I have no schedule but it shouldn't take over a week. 
> 
> Anyways leave a comment to let me know what you think and if you want to message me my tumblr is undertaletrashmachine


	6. Something Old, Something New...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Muffet goes to court, and Grillby learns a few things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while but I'm really happy how it turned out! Thanks again to my wonderful betas, who made sure that what I write actually makes senses, and to all of you who leave comments for me! I might not get around to responding to all comments (im too awkward to know how to reply half the time) but it really makes my day when someone comments! 
> 
> Anyways here is the chapter, hope you enjoy!

Muffet’s court date moved up out of nowhere, and with how quickly it was approaching, she hardly had time to get a lawyer. If it wasn’t for Cam’s insistence on taking the lawyer they recommended, Muffet probably would’ve had to use the one the state offered to defend her case, which probably wouldn’t have worked out too well for her. All three of them took the day off to watch how the trial would go and support Muffet, leaving the bakery closed up (with a quick note on the door apologizing for the inconvenience from Cam) despite Muffet’s insistence that she didn’t need an entourage. 

Grillby had never been to a trial before, and only had seen them on TV when law shows like  _ Judge Judy _ was playing, but it was just as boring as he thought it was going to be. The trial was long, and had a lot of political and legal speech, leaving him mostly confused and only catching bits of what was going on, (Cam’s lawyer seemed to be winning halfway through, but he wasn’t 100% sure) but whenever he glanced over to look at Cam to see if they understood what was being said, he had to quickly glance away. 

‘I think I understand what Muffet meant about their aura.’ Grillby thought to himself, after being forced to look away from them a fifth time in a row. They were powerful in a sense that was hard to read. It was  _ almost  _ magic, from what Grillby could tell, but it wasn’t  _ normal.  _ Almost old. It was very intimidating, and by the time the trial took an intermission, the whole room could feel the intensity of Cam’s gaze burning holes into the opposing lawyer whenever they tried to make a racist remark about monsters or spiders in particular. 

Muffet was uncharacteristically quiet during the break. She spoke up once, but the intermission was over before either of us could properly answer her.

“Do you think I can actually win?”

When the trial resumed after the intermission, Grillby found himself mulling over Muffet’s question as he sat in the hard wooden seats of the courthouse benches . Could they actually win? Monsters win against humans? His gut instinct was to say “No, you can’t.” but he found himself less confident of his pessimistic answer as the trial droned on. 

He turned to quickly glance at Cam, whose burning gaze had returned with more intensity than before, which was freaking out the opposing lawyer and made them stutter, and Grillby decided on his answer. 

‘No, we can’t win against humans. Not alone, anyways. But we aren’t alone in this anymore.’

* * *

The trial ended on a positive note. Monsters were able to open up their own shops but would be checked by health inspectors more frequently and goods could not be shipped outside of the city without a hefty amount of paperwork. Grillby was sure that the inspectors would be biased one way or another, and that would require  _ another  _ trial/lawsuit, but it was a step in the right direction for Monsters like Muffet. And Grillby wasn’t going to complain about that. He didn’t want to bring down her good mood from today’s win.

And Muffet was free to open up her own shop now. So after three months of working at the bakery with Cam and him, she was quitting. Cam seemed happy that she would be able to open her own buffet but constantly reminded her to visit and that she was always welcome to stop by and chat with them. 

At the end of her final shift while Muffet was packing up a few of the things she had left at the bakery, Cam was constantly giving her advice on how to deal with shitty humans who would always appear at the least convenient of times and reminding her to come visit the bakery as often as she could.

“And don’t forget-”

Muffet swiftly cut off Cam before they could repeat themselves, _again_.

“That if I have anymore legal trouble that I should contact you. Yes I know, you’ve told me a million times by now.”

Cam pouted a little at her dismissive response. “Then be sure to actually do it.”

Muffet rolled her eyes and began to leave. “Yes, _mother._ I’ll call every weekend too.”

As she was halfway out the door she paused and turned around. “Oh and Cam?”

“Hm?” They paused in their work to look back up at her questioningly.

She grinned wickedly. “Take care of Grillby for me.”

Cam let out a little giggle and Muffet made her exit, while Grillby frowned. “I don’t need--aaand she’s gone. She always has to get the last word.”

“Don’t worry Grillby,” Cam said sweetly as they put their arm around Grillby’s shoulder and leaned closer to him. “I’ll take _very_ good care of you.” Cam let their arm drop from his shoulders then sauntered off to the kitchen as Grillby quirked a fiery brow.

“Since when were you so bold?” Grillby called out after them.

Their reply came quickly from the back room with a hint of laughter. “Since Muffet!”

Grillby chuckled softly to himself, and began the slow process of helping Cam close down the bakery. Once all the tables were cleaned, and surfaces wiped down, Grillby joined Cam in the back to see what he could do to help. While he wasn’t the best baker, as he usually ended up burning most of his food, he didn’t mind doing the prep work. 

Cam turned when he entered and smiled, before continuing to roll out dough for the next day.

“Anything particular you need done?” Grillby asked approaching them.

“Mind taking inventory of what we have left? We’re going to need it next week.” Cam said, gesturing towards the many shelves and cupboards that were crammed in the tiny kitchen.

Picking up a small piece of paper to write the numbers down, and a pen to write with, Grillby began counting the supplies. “Something special happening next week?”

“No one told you? It’s the week of the ole.”

Grillby paused briefly, before restarting counting. “Oh yeah I heard a little about that. The first year we came up it had apparently already passed, and the second year it was raining the whole time so…”

Grillby paused, shivering slightly. It had been so _wet_ that week and the roof of his apartment had a leak. One of the downsides of living on the top floor. “Something to do with Monsters right?”  

Cam stopped shuffling around behind Grillby, and spun around on their heels to face him. “You seriously don’t know?!”

He just blinked at their incredulous look and shook his head.

 

“Grillby, it’s when the old Monsters, the ones that weren’t trapped down below, are allowed to roam ANYWHERE and aren’t forced to follow human laws.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun Dun Duuuuunnn.   
> We are finally getting to the plot points I wanted!! Next chapter should probably be one of the longer ones, but I have no idea when I'll be finished with it, so keep an eye out for any updates.
> 
> My Tumblr: undertaletrashmachine.tumblr.com (Mod Perseverance)   
> My lovely Betas: grassno.tumblr.com AND matronofhtevoid.tumblr.com 
> 
> Like I said earlier, your comments make my day, no matter how short, so be sure to leave some!   
> ((Bother me on tumblr if I don't update within a month or if you wanna talk to me about it or anything))


	7. Of Dragons and Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Week of the Ole begins.

Grillby finished closing up with Cam relatively quickly after that, and began his walk back to his apartment in silence. He needed some time to think. Grillby knew that there   
were supposedly some Monsters who survived on the surface, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to meet them. Cam had noticed his unease and had offered to let him work in the back rather than the register like he usually did, but he felt bad for leaving Cam up front by themselves.

What if they got attacked? The thought of Cam getting hurt by one of the monsters at the shop made his SOUL churn painfully. Most monsters weren’t exactly peaceful, underground or above. And Cam was too nice, knowing them they probably wouldn’t even fight back against the attacker.

No, Grillby decided, he would still work the register so as to not abandon Cam alone at the front. Not having to follow any human laws meant that the ‘old monsters’, as they were referred to, could potentially cause extra trouble.

Treading lightly up the stairs to his apartment, Grillby frowned. Why was Cam even opening the bakery next week? They mentioned that most human shops close down during the week of the ole. It would be so much safer for them if they closed up like everyone else. Was the pay really worth it?

Grillby heaved a sigh as he stopped in front of his apartment door, slowly fishing the keys out of the bottom of his pocket and letting himself in. Not even bothering to take off his shoes he flopped himself down onto his only mildly lumpy couch and tiredly rubbed his eyes, nearly causing his glasses to fall off his face at the sudden movement. Letting his eyes droop shut, he decided to skip dinner and just sleep out on the couch. It wasn’t worth the effort it would take to drag himself to bed, Grillby decided.

Sleep came quickly, but waking up was a bitch and a half. The alarm on his phone buzzed annoyingly from where he left it in his pants pocket. He debated calling in sick to try to sleep the day away, this time in his actual comfy bed, but quickly banished the thought and tried to sit himself up. Falling asleep on the god forsaken couch, in his work clothes no less, was a horrible mistake which led to back and neck pains he wasn’t even aware he could get. 

Getting going after that wasn’t too bad, and he had breakfast (a slightly charred piece of toast he slathered in butter paired with instant coffee) and was dressed in a cleaner set of clothes, 5 minutes earlier than usual. Marching to the bakery in an almost half zombie state, he arrived right as Cam pulled up in their car.

“Oh- Hello Grillby! You’re here earlier than usual. I didn’t expect you for another couple of minutes.” They smiled at him, quickly walking to open up the bakery door for the both of them.

“Eh, guess I walked here quickly. Anything special we making today?”

“Nope!” They said popping the P, “Just prep work for next week and keeping up sales this week.” 

The both of them quickly settled into rushing around tiredly to prepare the bakery for opening another day. Setting up displays, preparing orders, and taking the chairs down from the tabletops went quickly, and soon it was time to open.

The day passed in a blur, with no trouble from any customers, and Grillby was busy wiping down tables that customers had recently vacated when he felt Cam approaching him from behind. Turning, he was about to ask if they needed him for anything, when he noticed that they were holding a tray of blueberry muffins in their arms, and smiling at him widely.

Grillby furrowed his brow, confused. “What’s the occasion?”

Shuffling past him, they set the tray of berry rich muffins down on the table he was previously cleaning before turning back to face him. 

“It’s to celebrate you working here for over a month! You were my first employee, and you made it a whole month!” 

They smiled shyly looking down at their hands, “I’m probably going to give you a bonus after the week of the ole, things tend to be a...  _ little hectic  _ then.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Grillby’s voice dropped to a whisper, surprising himself with the emotion it held. “You’ve done so much for me already, and for Muffet. You don’t have to do anything else.”

Their eyes melt his with an intensity that shocked him. “But I want to. Besides,” They grin at him, the intensity that previously clouded their eyes fading. “I’ve seen you drooling over these blueberry muffins. And don’t even  _ THINK _ about saying otherwise.”

With that, they sauntered back to the kitchen, leaving Grillby alone with a delectable muffin. Giving in to temptation, Grillby swipes the unsuspecting muffin off the plate and bites into it while he tries to not to moan because it tasted  _ soo good holy shit.  _ After quickly scarfing down the muffin (and  _ maybe _ licking his fingers for any leftover crumbs) he hurried to finish cleaning the tables and moved to the back room where Cam was, bringing the empty muffin plate with him.

Placing the plate down beside the sink Grillby mutters softly, more to himself than Cam, “You’re too nice for your own good.”

* * *

 

Helping Cam prepare for the week of the ole took up most of Grillby’s time. Cam was rushing around to make sure that they had enough inventory stocked up and beginning to prep ingredients. The rest of the week passed in a blur, and every moment Grillby had off, he used to catch up on rest. He felt like he was going to need it.

The week of the ole would begin tomorrow, and Grillby was a bundle of nerves. Working so hard with Cam all week kept his mind busy, he didn’t have time to be jittery then, but now that it was the night before, he was an anxious mess and had checked the clock  _ way too many  _ times in the last minute. 

Letting out a long sigh, Grillby ran a hand through the flames atop his head, trying to ease his nerves a little. He had plenty of practice handling groups of rowdy monsters from before, he was an arms dealer in the underground after all, but he felt completely unprepared for the surface monsters. They were mostly an unknown.

Grillby let his thoughts wander, letting his head rest on the back of the couch, thinking about how he should react to the surface monsters. Were they like what the humans described them as? Full of tricks, mischief, and mayhem? Probably not, seeing as humans weren’t the most accurate source of information and monsters were often described as “magic creatures” and “Satan’s helpers”. 

Rubbing his eyes he glanced at the clock again. Still too early to head to work, but too late to do anything else. 

‘Still a couple hours to kill before I find out all about these mysterious surface monsters.’

* * *

 

Grillby spent so much time staring at the ceiling, letting his thoughts wander, that he was almost late to work. Moving quickly he shrugged on his pastel pink apron (Cam’s idea, not his) and went to go find Cam and begin helping them set up before the shop opened. 

Silently the duo began working around each other, already used to the other’s rhythm enough by now to move in sync. They promptly completed the day’s set up and began waiting for their first customers to start trickling in. 

Typically most mornings were slow, the majority of the shop’s crowd didn’t arrive until the afternoon. But today when Grillby went to flip the closed sign to open he saw that there was already a small group waiting outside the shop. He hurried to step aside and let them enter.

As they walked in and Cam welcomed them with the same smile they offered to all of their customers, and asked their orders, Grillby couldn’t believe how human they looked. If it weren’t for the fact that their magic swirled and flickered around them in an invisible cloud, Grillby might’ve actually thought that they  _ were  _ human. 

They caused no trouble though. Leaving with their orders as quickly as the came, they left Grillby wondering if all surface monsters would be like that. 

Cam interrupted Grillby’s train of thoughts when they called out to him from behind the cash register. 

“Hey Grillby.”

“What?”

They smiled at him. “Try not to think about it too much.”

After that piece of advice the work day became hectic. A barrage of orders began flooding in that they had to make as fast as possible. They spent most of their time in the back kitchen trying to bake as fast as they could. 

Thus leaving Grillby to work up front at the register. Which was strange for him, not because working alone at the register was new to him, but because each customer was very  _ very  _ different. Some looked human and had no problems ordering and paying regularly but others… were more difficult. The one currently in front of him, for example, was harder to handle than he was used to. 

A small childlike creature stood in front of him, with pointed teeth and multicolored hair, slamming a bag down on the counter before speaking to Grillby in blunt sentences, as if speaking English wasn’t their first or even second language. 

“Simmi want chocolate!!! ONLY CHOCO.”

Confused, Grillby tried to ask for a more specific order but the only response he got was “CHOCO!”. 

Carefully he decided to just wing it and picked out the item on the menu with the most chocolate in it and gave it to ‘Simmi’, hoping this was what they wanted. 

“Thank! Sir!!!” They said grinning happily, before opening up the bag they had previously slammed on the counter and revealing a handful of dark purple jewels, which they then gave to Grillby before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. 

Grillby stood there stupidly, not really sure what to do with the handful of beautiful jewels he had recently acquired. Thankfully there hadn’t been anymore customers in line behind ‘Simmi’ so Grillby decided the best course of action was to just  take the handful of jewels back to Cam. 

“Hey uhh...what do I do with these??” Cam glanced over their shoulder, only pausing their current task briefly to look at the glittering jewels. 

“Keep ‘em. One of them is probably more than enough to pay for whatever they bought, and the rest is a tip.” Nonplussed, they shrugged and turned back to their work. 

Cam must’ve felt Grillby’s shocked stare boring into them, because they turned back around to face him. He was just standing there, practically slack jawed at their casual indifference.

“Ey don’t worry about it Grillby. Half the jewels we get usually end up turning into mud or something equally weird when we try to cash them in. And even if they are real jewels the monster that gave them to you obviously doesn’t need them.”

“They can turn into mud.” He said it as less of a question and more of a deadpan statement.

“Yup.” they said, popping the P. “Illusion magic. ...I guess. Or something like that anyways. I’m better at chemically inclined magic so I’m not really sure.”

Grillby blinked at them, incredulous. ” _ You can do magic.”  _

Cam paused, before realization dawned on their face. “You didn’t know? I mean I never told you, but I wasn’t hiding it very well either. So I figured you knew.” 

Shocked, Grillby tried to come up with a comprehensible response. “I just thought… I don’t know, something but...not magic!” 

Cam snorted. “Yes, magic. Did you not feel it when I was cooking?? Chemically inclined magic is really good for cooking.”

“How?”

“Cooking and science are very similar. You take a list of ingredients or reactants and either combine them into a new ‘solution’ or make something that’s a mix of the two. I’d be a better scientist but it’s just a bit boring to me.” Cam said, scrunching up their face in distaste. 

“Anyways you should head back out to the register. Someone needs to watch the goods. One time I left for a minute, and a group of pixies ate all the croissants.” 

“But what about these?” Grillby said, gesturing to the pile of jewels still cupped in his hand. They looked more gorgeous than anything he’d ever seen on the surface, possibly even underground as well.

“Told ya, keep ‘em. And expect a few others to pay like that too. The more isolated or ‘traditional’ of the folk haven’t transferred over to paper money yet.” Cam turned back to the order they were working on, leaving him with a pile of jewels and his head swimming with questions.

The rest of the day was slightly calmer, in the sense that no one threw maybe real/maybe fake jewels at him or vanished in a cloud of smoke. Grillby was getting ready to take his lunch break when he saw the trees bending to the winds outside.

‘I didn’t think there were going to be fast winds today,’ he thought with mild interest.

The winds seemed to pick up as soon as the thought entered Grillby’s mind and he was worried that one of the monsters was fighting with  _ wind. _ All of the wind stopped as a loud, ground shaking thud shook the whole building.

“Ah. That must be Burdin, Champion of the White.” Cam said, appearing by Grillby’s side out of nowhere, idly wiping their hands on their apron.

“Who?”

Before Cam got a chance to answer, a large head covered in scales with a blood red eye lowered itself to peer into the shops doorway. Ancient magic crackled around the other worldly being.

“Burdin. Not many dragons like sweets but he seems to have a soft spot for my baking. I’ll go get his order. Can you go greet him for me?” Not waiting for his response Cam headed towards the back room, leaving Grillby alone to deal with a _literal_ _fucking_ _dragon._

Swallowing his fear, Grillby headed to the shop door and opened it, hoping his voice wouldn’t crack when he tried to greet Burdin.

“Hello? You are Burdin correct?” 

Burdin repositioned himself so that Grillby could see more than the unblinking red eye of death. And Burdin was without a doubt a dragon. Vibrant red scales covered his entire body, although a plethora of scars covered most of the bright scales. The great monster took up nearly the whole road in front of Cam’s tiny shop.

“ **_I…Am…”_ ** The pure magic that radiated from his very words shook Grillby’s core and sent a shiver racing through his body that he’d never encountered before. 

Trying to keep himself composed, Grillby spoke again. “C-Cam will be out shortly with your order.” 

As if on cue, Cam appeared behind Grillby, pushing a huge cart that was filled to the brim with boxes bearing the name of their bakery, all of which presumably held cakes or other baked goods. 

They greeted Burdin cheerfully. “Hiya Burdin! How was the flight over?” 

“... **_Good…”_ **

“Good, good. I have your usual order.” Cam said, listing off the order. “12 dozen doughnuts, 3 pies, and 1 birthday cake. Sound right?” 

Burdin nodded before carefully taking all of the boxes and placing them in a bag that Grillby hadn’t seen on the dragon before. After making sure that all the food was tucked away safely, Burdin brought out a smaller bag that was filled with coins, if the clinking noises coming from inside it were anything to go by. 

“So…How are the kids? And Aunt Melly?” Cam said brightly, their head fully tilted back to look at Burdin’s head. 

“ ** _They … are … lively… Mel wants…. you… to.. call…_** ” The words were dragged out, as if Burdin wasn’t used to speaking. 

“Of course I’ll call! Must’ve slipped my mind! Anyways I’ve got to head back inside. Have a safe flight back!” 

Burdin nodded and began to spread his wings, about to take off when he paused. “ **_You… should...talk...to your….mother too….”_ **

Cam’s smile tightened, almost looking painful, as they stiffly nodded. 

Burdin turned away and lept into the air, their wings beating down swiftly, propelling them into the sky, causing the trees and leaves to flutter in the wind. The two left on the ground had to shield their eyes from any debris the huge gust of wind had kicked into the air.

After watching Burdin disappear in the sky, both Grillby and Cam silently headed back inside.

* * *

 

The rest of the day went by in a blur, and Grillby found himself both physically and mentally exhausted as he dragged himself towards his apartment. 

The shift had been rather good. Most customers, though confusing, didn’t cause any trouble. He had only lost his shit when a pixie tried to squirt him with  water magic. Cam had chased them out before they had the chance, though.

Sighing, Grillby unlocked his door and immediately went to prepare himself for bed. Screw dinner, the only thing he wanted was sleep. Carefully pulling the jewels out of his pants pocket, which hadn’t turned to mud yet, he carefully hides them under a loose floorboard in his room. There weren’t very many good hiding spots in his apartment since it was such a small and sparsely furnished place.  And it definitely wasn’t secure enough for him to be leaving valuables lying around. 

Once the jewels were tucked away as safely as he figured they’d be, he changed into his pajama pants. He didn’t even care to throw on the matching shirt. Too much work. Though he wasn’t going to make the same mistake he did the night before, and sleep in his work clothes. Taking his glasses off and placing them on his night stand, he finally let himself relax and sink into the mattress, ready to pass out.

…

…

…

…

… 

… 

… 

“Oh, god damn it.”

He wasn’t going to sleep tonight, was he? No, that would be too simple, too  _ nice _ to actually happen. Of course he was going to be given a hard time with sleep too. Rolling over, he tried to get more comfortable and distract himself from any stray thoughts, in order to permit himself to be able to sleep without any problems for once. 

… 

… 

… 

… 

… 

Well fine. If he wasn’t allowed to sleep, he just wouldn’t sleep. Rolling over onto his back, he tried to prioritize his thoughts. Better than laying in the semi-dark and staring into nothing for hours on end while his stupid body refused to let him  _ sleep _ .

Alright, something to occupy his thoughts….something to occupy his thoughts….

Okay, for starters Cam had magic. So that was a thing.  _ Chemically inclined magic too.  _ Whatever the fuck that meant. On top of that, they knew a literal dragon. Several dragons actually, from the sounds of it. And, Cam had issues with their mom apparently? That was the most normal thing he’d found out about them, sadly. 

His thoughts filled with Cam and dragons, Grillby at last drifted off to sleep, unaware of the ancient magic that was watching him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3,239 words in a chapter people. I didn't think I could ever write this long of a chapter. Hope you guys liked it.  
> And as always thanks to my betas (matronofthevoid.tumblr.com AND grassno.tumblr.com) and be sure to talk to me about my writing (undertaletrashmachine.tumblr.com)! Let me know what you think in the comments below, or if you have any theories on what happens next!
> 
> Until next time~


	8. Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second day of the week of the ole!

Grillby awoke the next morning to ominous grey clouds blocking out the sun, and a knot forming where his stomach would be if he had one. While the weather forecast said that it wouldn’t rain until late in the evening, he couldn’t help but glance up at the gloomy sky with worry as he walked to work. 

Unconsciously he picked up his pace.  _ Just in case.  _

When Grillby arrived at the bakery, Cam was already there, and by the looks of it, had been there for a while. The majority of set up was already completed, and they were knee deep in making orders that had been sent in overnight. 

“You started without me?” Grillby asked, eyeing the large number of boxes that had been recently stacked up against the kitchen wall. 

“Shipment came in early today with new supplies. Had to be here to unpack.” Cam said, peering at the lit up order screen. 

“And we’re going to need all the supplies we can get. We’ve got the max amount of orders we can physically take for the next three days.” 

Grillby leaned next to Cam to get a look at the order screen and blinked in surprise. 

1,500 orders.  _ Total.  _

“Do we need to hire more bakers?” 

Cam shrugged. “Probably, yeah. Am I going to, however? No.”

Grillby snorted. “Well good luck with that. I’d offer to help with all that but I’d probably only be good for  Crème brûlée.” 

Cam laughed. “Anyways, things will start really picking up speed today. More monsters will have arrived by now, and we’re one of the few year-round monster run shops. So expect to be busy most of the week.”

“Speaking of monsters…,” Grillby said, eyeing Cam suspiciously from the corner of his eye. 

“What kind of monster are you anyways? You said ‘chemically inclined’, but I have no idea what that means for species type.” 

“I’ll tell you Sunday, since that's the day we’ll have off and I’ll be sunning. Sunning on sunday.” Cam easily deflected and even grinned at their own joke. 

Grillby rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. I can wait. Until Sunday. No longer than that though.” 

Their idle chatter died down after that and Grillby began his shift out at the register. At first, it was all normal. A couple customers trickling in here and there, quickly purchasing their food and leaving. But by 10:00 a.m., all that quickly changed, however. 

Grillby stared unwaveringly at the newest customer in line.

Before him stood another elemental. But not just any elemental monster _. A water elemental monster.  _ And a strong one too. 

Luckily, if they tried to touch him, it would hurt them just as much as it would hurt him. And if their cautious actions were anything to go by, they already knew that and wanted to avoid any physical contact. 

Carefully they slid some money towards him on the counter, he said nothing but awaited their order. 

“One Milk Tea please.” Their lyrical voice flowed over Grillby’s senses, annoying him where it would calm others.

Setting out to complete the task in order to get rid of them as soon as possible, Grillby quickly started prepping the ingredients. He could feel their frigid stare on him while he worked. Subconsciously, he shivered, but mentally stomped the reaction down and finished up the drink.

They took their drink and left without any trouble though, and Grillby felt the tension seep out of his body as he watched them exit. 

“ _ Didn’t think there were many of us left.”  _ He silently mused to himself. 

The bell on the door rang, signaling the next customer and he snapped himself out of his previous train of thought. He wasn’t prepared for what he saw when he looked up, though. 

A ghoul. Not like Happstablook, the angry ghost that often haunted the theater. A  _ ghoul. _ White essence with four blood red eyes and an aura that was filled with discontent and frightening, that made Grillby’s magic flicker defensively on reflex as they moved towards the ordering counter. They seemed to notice the change in his magic and paused halfway to stare at him uncertainty, causing unease to ripple through Grillby.

“How may I help you today?” Grillby said, impressed with himself for not letting his voice waver. 

The ghoul moved closer to the counter before whispering there order. Grillby quickly made their order, feeling their cold gaze follow him as he moved around. Setting their drink down on the counter, Grillby told them their total. Soundlessly they place money on the counter, and tried to pick up their drink. Key word:  _ tried.  _ They phased right through it. Several times. 

The more they tried to pick it up the more awkward Grillby felt. Could he do something to help them? Right as he was about to offer making a new drink with more magic in it so they could drink it, they let out a SOUL piercing wail and phased out of existence. 

This left Grillby feeling awkward and alone with an untouched drink. Grillby quickly stashed the drink in the nearby mini fridge, not wanting to throw it away (or in case the ghoul came back and wanted it) and waited for more customers. 

He didn’t have to wait long, however, as a group of young monsters quickly filed in, busying him with their orders. The rest of the morning shift went by without trouble and Grillby was just starting to eat his lunch at one of the tables in the bakery when he heard the first rumbles of thunder followed by the unmistakable sound of rain hitting the streets, making his SOUL clench with unease. 

Cam joined him at the table he was sitting at and began eating with him, as they had been doing for the last couple days. 

“Is that going to be a problem?” Cam spoke up suddenly, startling Grillby slightly.

Grillby raised his fiery eyebrow questioningly. “Is what going to be a problem?” 

“You know,” They said gesturing vaguely to the air around them. “The rain.”

Grillby paused for a moment, before shrugging. “Hopefully the rain will let up by the time I have to leave. Worst comes to worst, I could always take the bus.” 

“I could give you a ride if you want.” They offered.

Grillby waved his hand dismissively. “Nah. I’ll be fine.” 

“If you change your mind let me know.”

* * *

As soon as the day was over, and Grillby looked at how hard it was still raining, he decided to ride with Cam.

They drummed on their steering wheel once they got in, waiting for Grillby to get in next to them. The car was slightly cluttered and they had to move some stuff out of the way in order for him to be able to sit in the passenger seat. 

“Sorry ‘bout the mess.” They said once Grillby slid into the seat next to them “Been a while since someone has car-pooled with me, and I let some junk build up over time.” 

“It’s fine.” He didn’t really care about the mess, more worried about the heavy rain. Cam started the car, and Grillby sat with his back straight, trying to entertain himself with looking out the window. But his view was muddled with sheets of rain, which did nothing to ease his mind.

“So where do you live exactly?” Grillby quickly gave directions, and just a short drive later, Cam pulled up into the parking lot for Grillby’s apartment complex. 

“Well, here we are!” They chirped, turning to look at him. 

Looking out the window Grillby shuddered. The rain was pouring harder than ever, and he forgot that there was no awning above the door he had to go in which mean he’d be getting wet. And the door was old and the key often got stuck, so he might be out there long enough to actually get hurt. Which he was not looking forward to.

“ _ Shit _ . I’m not going to make it inside without getting wet.” 

“Uhm..You wanna go grab some food to kill time til the rain lets up? I know a good drive in place with good fries and shakes that we could have in the car while we wait out the storm. My treat!” Cam offered, fiddling with their fingers absentmindedly. 

“It’s not like I have anything else better to do. I’d probably end up eating fast food anyways.” Grillby said, sighing as he glared at the rain that continued to pour relentlessly.

Nodding, Cam pulled out of the small parking lot next to Grillby’s apartment and headed down the road. 

“Do you mind if I turn on the radio?” Cam asked after a beat of tense silence filled the air.  Grillby shook his head and watched, bored, as Cam turned on the radio. And immediately cringed when he realized what song was playing. _What’s New Pussycat_  was not a personal favorite of Grillby’s after a certain _lost bet_ which led to it being played several times in a row.  It didn’t seem to be Cam’s favorite song either since they quickly changed the station to classical music, where Grillby let his thoughts be consumed by the violins for the rest of the drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heck I almost forgot to post this. ANYWAYS next chapter y'all can look forward to Cam and Grillby hanging out! 
> 
> Betas: grassno.tumblr.com AND matronofthevoid.tumblr.com   
> Me: undertaletrashmachine.tumblr.com
> 
> Tell me what y'all think in the comments.


End file.
